A Change In Pace
by Ink-spatter upon the soul
Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo is a cripple. It hasn't always been that way. Life didn't stop for him, however, and so the story of fate begins again.
1. Here it Begins

Kurosaki Ichigo sighed as he trudged through the rain. He had forgotten how much he hated this type of weather. So somber and dreary. Its steady downpour reminded him of times he would have liked to forget; but things never really ever worked in his favor. He would rather think about things that he needed to do right now. Like getting home, for example. So he decided to tear his away his focus on the stupid weather. Though, in a sardonic afterthought, he quoted, "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I ponder weak and weary-" his musings were cut off by a slightly annoyed huff by the short girl next to him. Her jet-black hair was weighed down by the heavy droplets, which was the complete opposite of his bright orange. Sometimes Ichigo really wished he had a different color of hair, in fact, he'd rather be another person entirely. His focus returned to the girl. She had a raincoat draped over her soccer uniform, hiding her skinny frame. She looked no older than eleven.

"I don't see why you to walk me back after the game, I can handle myself." The girl muttered, though it held no annoyance.

"I'm supposed to walk you home, Karin. That's what big brothers do. Anyways, I bet a shorty like you wouldn't see their way out of a paper bag." He spoke lightly, gesturing around. "It's raining so hard you can barely see." Jade quickly pivoted on the balls of her feet, so she was facing him.

"You better take that back!" Her voice rose over the pit-pattering of the rain. "When I turn fifteen, I bet I'll be taller than you!" Ichigo scoffed, though he was smiling with a challenging grin.

"I'd like to see you tr-hey!" Karin had run into the road with a grin. "That's dangerous, get back here!" She just laughed and retorted,

"I bet you're just scared!" Ichigo growled as he prepared to go after her. The rain just continued to pour all the harder. Soon enough, a sickly yellow light bathed the pair with dread. The swerving of a slipping vehicle skidded down the near-flooded road, towards Karin. Ichigo was thinking a mile a minute. He hadn't felt this helpless since… since his mom died. He promised he would protect his family, no matter what the cost. He had the final choice before the car makes contact with his sister. Stand aside like a coward as Karin dies, or take the chance and try to save her like a brother should. The choice was unanimous. He would never lose another family member to the rain. The rain will always bring death. He sprang with his muscles taut, grabbing hold of Karin and holding her tightly, shielding her. He barely registered a dull thud as he lay on the ground, his life fluid spilling out of him, only to be carried away by the rain. Kurosaki Ichigo hated the rain. Hated it with a passion.

His eyes were greeted by a never-ending expanse of white. Ichigo _hated _the color. It meant nothing. The end. Nothing left. Forgotten. A never-written requiem. Solitude suffocated him, pulling the air out of his lungs and filling them with such agonizing loneliness he thought they would explode. Ichigo's eyes roved around in their sockets, desperately trying to get a feel of their surroundings. He attempted to move, but he couldn't, so Ichigo remained, suspended in air. 'Is this what it's like being dead? An infinity of unfeeling white, reaching out into nothingness, only to drown in itself again, an unending cycle.'

Maybe his mom was here, with all the others whose time has expired. That would be wonderful, to be together again. Those shining eyes, light brown hair, playful demeanor. All gone. Like a flame snuffed out before it could help the traveler in the dark. But he was alone now, alone in his thoughts. It wasn't all bad, actually, finally some peace. But, he had a family to protect, and sisters to care for. He needed to come back, to live again.

Ichigo's eyes cracked open to more white. Breath once again filled his lungs. A startled gasp and a calling of his name jerked him from his daze. The worried faces of his father and sisters hovered above him. They were all there, Karin, Yuzu, and his dad. Relief flooded Ichigo, but once again was replaced with worry. A thought repeated in his mind, over and over again. 'I can't feel my legs. I can't feel my legs. _I can't feel my legs.'_

"You don't know anything about me or even my name," Kurosaki Ichigo stated bluntly, eyes not leaving his homework. "Yet you want to copy down the answers to my homework?" The girl simply nodded. She had raven black hair cut short, an uncooperating strand hanging loosely between her eyes. Her skin was pale, bringing out the violet in her dark blue eyes.

"Yes, that's what I said. My name is Rukia. I am a new transfer student here." Her voice was curt and to the point. For some reason, that just irked him even more.

"What makes you think I'm going to give it to you?" Ichigo asked, his annoyance as clear as day. He continued to scribble away on his worksheet, though the deep impressions the pencil left on the desk he made were as if he was almost giving out a subtle warning. The girl,

completely oblivious, continued to press him further.

"What if I annoyed you the entirety of the Study Hall," Rukia asked incredulously, as if she didn't believe his answer. "What would you do then?"

Ichigo finally pulled away from the desk, irritated. "Then I will be allowed to call you dumb for the rest of the year, because apparently you don't know how to solve simple algebraic equations."

She floundered a bit, looking completely insulted. "Fine! I'll do it by myself! I bet I'll do a much better job than the likes of you!" As she was about to stomp away, she noticed that he was sitting in a wheelchair. Intrigued, she blurted out, "What happened?" gesturing towards his legs.

She seemed to have touched a nerve. "A car accident." Ichigo turned away. "Apparently you're too dumb to realize that something like this most normal people, like me, wouldn't like to talk about it."

Rukia just grumbled a half-hearted "I'm sorry" and asked again if she could copy his answers. He just sighed at her statement and thrust the paper in her face, challenge burning in his eyes. She gently took the paper from his hand; a look of understanding flitted across her features for a split second, then smoothed her features out and just smiled serenely and skipped away.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." He told her as she left. She stopped for a moment, and nodded, still looking over the paper, then turned.

"Nice to meet you, but I really just used your homework as an excuse to introduce myself to you, Kurosaki-san, so I'm not stupid." She placed the paper on his desk, then started to hum as she walked away, leaving a fuming Kurosaki Ichigo behind.

Laying on his bed and thinking to himself, Ichigo ignored the ranting of his father downstairs about his 'lovely daughters' and how they were being 'cruel". It was strange, about the girl he met today, how she acted. And something was just, _off._ Like she was being weighed down by an invisible burden. He knew how that felt.

There was also that look in her eyes, that look that told him she was _much_ older than she looked. Like he said, strange.

How she looked entirely unrepentant when they met in class. The way she asked for his homework just to learn his name and who he was. Kurosaki Ichigo was not the smartest person in the world, but he was a lot more observant than what people gave him credit for. There was definitely a piece missing here, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out.

"You are going to become a shinigami," Kuchiki Rukia spoke slowly and deliberately to the human who was trying to support himself without legs. "There is a possibility that you may die, are you sure you are willing to do this?" The boy looked up, resolve burning in his eyes.

"Give me your sword, Rukia." Kurosaki Ichigo's face never changed as he plunged the sword into his heart. "See you in class. That's a promise."

Kuchiki Rukia smiled. "See you in class, then."

The world exploded.


	2. Today is the Day We burn

A bone crunching screech jerked Ichigo from the game he was currently playing, adrenaline quickly activating and burst throughout his veins. Quick disorientation closed in around the depths of his mind, along with the slight lolling fear which bounced all around him. Ichigo threw open the front door, which shut with a loud crash. A thick light struggled its way into his eyes, blinding him. The thick summer air pulsed around him, seeming far too alive. The fear in Ichigo's chest only snuggled its way in deeper.

Numb feet thump against the ground, picking their way through the walkway. He froze. At the end of the driveway, was a car. A Grand Caravan to be precise. Its light blue paint was spattered with thick layers of blood, peppering the ground, and the smell of death ticked his nostrils. The van was crushed and dented, and deep gouges raked their way along the sides. The fear was everywhere. It blurred his vision. So much so that Ichigo was incapable of noticing his curious feet inching their way towards the van. Ichigo realized that he was now a matter of inches from the condemned thing…the door slowly opened, beckoning him.

Ichigo sucked in a rattled breath, and looked upwards, trying not to look and feel the oceanic urge to climb inside. The thin green leaves above him from the forest calmed him, though he knew he did not live near any forest. Ichigo's eyes flicked to an oddly shaped form in the sky. For some odd reason, it terrified him. The van sounded better than looking at it. It was getting larger, as well as his fear. It was suffocating. He bent down and stepped in the vehicle and a wave of safety washed over his being. His eyes closed. As soon as Ichigo had rested his body against a torn seat, he finally felt safe. It was only a matter of seconds later that his fate had been sealed.

The odd shape in the sky above him had crashed to the ground. It was truly the thing nightmares were born from. It had muddled blue skin, a bloodshot eye roved around in a blood-encrusted socket. Muscle and sinew flaked off in thick, moldy flakes, tissue flapping in the breeze. A gruesome grin had torn its way through its jawline, revealing rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. It had no hands, nor did it have feet. Pearly white bones jutted and splintered out of each, leaving thick flesh hanging from toned arms. A bubble of insane laughter bubbled in my throat as I realized he was wearing a torn plaid vest, and jeans.

It somehow approached Ichigo, its warm breath curling around him. Salivation dripped from its jaw as its gaping maw enclosed around his throat and a guttural moan racked its body. Ichigo couldn't even bring himself to scream as the teeth enclosed around his throat.

**A CHANG IN PACE CHAPTER 2**

The Soul King observed mournfully from his perch. A new timeline, the Sword of Fate had swung again. There had been nothing he could do to prevent the meeting of the two beings, Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia. If he could just prevent them from meeting, from giving Rukia her shinigami powers to Kurosaki, he could prevent needless blood and genocide. He was still too late this time.

He gestured to one of the Zero Division members. "Give me an update on the two beings. What's going on inside the human, and what of the Kuchiki girl?"

The woman turned to one of her monitors, her extra mechanical hands typing furiously on the computers that held dominance over the room. "The human, Kurosaki Ichigo, is unconscious. I believe he is having a nightmare. Kuchiki Rukia, however, is being tended to by Urahara Kisuke."

"This early into this timeline, eh? Strange. Kisuke is supposed to enter later in the game. Though, it probably would not change anything, they will all die soon enough." The Soul King turned away from the monitors, purple and white eyes downcast.

"There is something else, however." The woman added slowly. The Soul King remained still. "In this timeline, Kurosaki Ichigo is a cripple." As she took her leave, the Soul King shifted in place, still facing away.

After a time that felt like forever, the man finally spoke, hope underlying his words. "This… has never happened before. Perhaps there is a chance, a chance that the bloodshed will finally be over."

A CHANGE IN PACE CHAPTER 2

"I'm not too sure about this," Rukia stated warily, eyeing the new gigai. "Are you sure that this will help me regain my reiatsu faster?"

The man before her, Urahara Kisuke, pulled his striped bucket-hat over his eyes. "Of course it will! You can trust me, Urahara Kisuke, the humble and sexy shopkeeper of this beautiful shoten, to give you a brand-new and totally-not-suspicious-in-any-way gigai!"

Rukia growled and shoved her gigai into his stomach. "Fine, I'll take it," she quickly looked around and pulled a Chappy plush off the shelf. "But _only_ if I get this for free."

The shopkeeper waved his hands in front of his face. "Of course, of course, only for you, Rukia-chan~!" He grunted when a fist connected with his stomach. He waved goodbye to an angry Rukia and turned away, face becoming solemn. He knew it wasn't right, giving her the gigai with the hogyoku inside of it, but time was running short and Aizen could make his move any time now.

Giving Rukia the gigai was the best decision, and it had to be done. No regrets. He smiled sardonically. He had shucked that a long time ago, when the same man had gotten him exiled with the Vizards. It was time to show the traitor who he was messing with. He turned and left, clogs clacking all the way.

A CHANGE IN PACE CHAPTER 2

Ichigo flew out of bed, sweat beaded his brow. It was all… just a dream? Even the shinigami piece with the girl Rukia?

No, that couldn't be true. It was all too real. The sword, the hollow, the _power_. This all had to be true, right?

Right?


End file.
